


My Babysitter's A Vampire

by hoffkk



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Babysitting, Fluff, Heartwarming, M/M, Raphy, Saphael, cuteness, little simon, mix ups
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 20:46:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7005763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoffkk/pseuds/hoffkk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mix-up by Magnus turns Simon into a four year old, and, when Raphael get’s talked into babysitting, some emotions are revealed and some cuteness ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Babysitter's A Vampire

**Author's Note:**

> Based off a prompt request from tumblr. I hope you guys enjoy what I came up with!  
> Don't hesitate to share your thoughts! :)

"What do you _mean_ you mixed up the viles?!" Clary asked angrily with an edge of worry to her voice.  Simon was hurt, again, no thanks to her, and all she wanted to do was make sure he was okay.  Magnus Bane, being the good friend that he was, mixed up a potion for Simon that was supposed to heal the large wound across his chest.  It was caused by a special weapon Valentine had that when used on vampires would cause mundane injuries to form, ones that wouldn't heal automatically. When she saw him last, Magnus was feeding him the potion and letting him rest.  He was supposed to be okay, he was supposed to be better by now, except apparently he wasn't, and now Clary was mad all over again.  She was mad still at herself for putting Simon in a dangerous position, yet again, but she was also mad at Magnus.  How mad?  Well, the jury was still out on that.  "What did _you_ do, Magnus?!  What did you do to Simon?! Is he okay? Is he--"

"He's fine... so to speak."  Magnus answered, putting a soothing hand on her shoulder to effectively cut off her rant and calm her down a bit.

"Then, why won't you let me see him?"  She queried, crossing her arms.

"I will.  I just need to explain."  Magnus said then sighed.  This was not going to go over well, but he couldn't lie to her, there was no way he could hide what he'd done.  "You see, as I was gathering my ingredients for Simon's medicine, Alexander was there, attending to a wound of his own and, well, that body of his can be quite distracting...."

"Magnus! Spit it out!" Clary yelled, growing more annoyed and more impatient by the second.  Was Simon okay or wasn't he?

"All right, all right, apparently, in my daze, I grabbed the vile of de-aging serum instead of the vile of regeneration serum, and it had some, uh... effects."  Magnus confessed.

"What _kind_ of effects?"  Clary asked slowly and deliberately, trying to read the warlock's face.

"Well..." Magnus began, but was interrupted by a shove to the gut.

At that moment, a small boy, about four years old with light brown hair and brown eyes, came barreling into the room, pushing right through Magnus and Clary, yelling, "DIE DEMONS!" as he wielded a pretend sword that was really a long stirring spoon (like the ones Magnus used to mix his potions with) and pretended to kill imaginary demons.

"Oh my god."  Clary said as her eyes became as wide as saucers.  "Simon?"

Simon ignored her in favor of killing more imaginary demons, or maybe he just didn't hear over all the sound effects he was making. Either way, it didn't matter, since her question didn't require an actual answer.  She'd know that face anywhere at any age.

Looking to Magnus, Clary asked exasperatedly, "You turned him into a toddler?!"

"Actually, I'd say he's more preschool age." Magnus replied, then paused to take in Clary giving him the evil eye and added, "Right, not important."

"So, what happens now?"  She wondered aloud, watching the child bounce around the room.  "Is he gonna keep getting younger?"

"No, based on the dosage level, he should remain at this age."  Magnus said certainly.

"But you can fix him, right?  You can turn him back to his normal age?"  Clary questioned hopefully.

"Yes."  Magnus answered.  With that, Clary let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in. "But there's a bit of a catch."

"What kind of a catch?" Clary asked.

Magnus cleared his throat then continued. "I don't have enough aging serum left to give Simon the exact dose he needs, but I can get more from an old friend.... it'll just take a few hours.  So, if you could just stay with young Simon, here, I'll just be on my way--"

"Whoa there, warlock," Clary called, stepping in front of him.  "You are _not_ leaving me alone with him."

"You'll be fine."  Magnus said dismissively with a wave of the hand.  "I'm sure you've babysat before."

"Yeah, a few times, but those were normal, _human_ children, not vampire babies!" Clary informed him, gesturing across the room toward Simon.  "I mean, what do I do if he gets hungry?  Give him my arm?"

"I wouldn't recommend that."  Magnus quipped.  "There should be some raw steaks in the fridge."

Clary rolled her eyes. " _Magnus_..." She warned.

"C'mon, how bad can he be?" Magnus queried.

Just then little Simon made a screeching noise, flashed his fangs and pounced from the top of the fancy couch against the far wall up to the chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling. He continued to hiss and kick his legs as he swung back and forth from the chandelier in glee.

"Yeah... we should probably call Hotel Dumort." Magnus commented, staring at the hyperactive vampire child.

"Ya think?" Clary retorted with a hand placed sassily on her hip, then hurried off to collect Simon before he did any more damage.

*******

Raphael was sitting on his couch, sipping his blood breakfast smoothie when his second in command, Thane, interrupted him.

"Hey, Santiago." Thane's voice called from behind him.

"What now?" Raphael said, tone dripping with annoyance.

"You have some visitors."  Thane responded.

"I'm busy." Raph said, taking another sip of his drink.

"She says it's important."  Thane spoke again.

"She?" Raphael quirked a brow.

"The red headed shadow hunter girl."  Thane answered.

Raphael sighed, "Bring her in."

As Clary entered the room, Raphael set down his drink and rose from the couch, then appeared in front of her in the blink of an eye.

"To what do I owe this displeasure?" He questioned.

"Nice to see you again too, Raphael." Clary said sarcastically.  When he crossed his arms and gave her a no-nonsense look,  she sighed and said, "Listen, we have a small problem, and I need your help."

"How small?" Raph asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Well..." Clary trailed off, pulling her stele from her boot and tracing the invisibility rune on her forearm to reveal four year old Simon, standing next to her.

Raphael's arms dropped and eyes widened, "What are you doing? You can't bring a _child_ in _here_! Are you _insane_?"

"He's not a child, he's... Simon." Clary explained.

Raphael stared at the child he had been ignoring.  The boy had soft, curly ringlets of brown hair framing his face, twinkling brown eyes, and small dimples in his cheeks that became more pronounced as he stuck out his fangs in greeting.  He was adorable, and he was definitely Simon.  The realization made his pulse quicken out of anger, mostly at Clary, but a little at himself.  If he never would have kicked Simon out of the clan, then Simon would've never...well, ended up like this.

"What happened?"  He inquired, confused and irritated.

"It's a long story... but what's important is that Magnus is going to fix it."  Clary informed him vaguely, deciding it best to spare him the details.

Raphael just grunted and rolled his eyes in response.  He should have known Magnus Bane was involved somehow.  He was so gonna kill him next time he saw him.

"Unfortunately," Clary continued.  "It's gonna be a few hours before Magnus gets back, so... you two can just get reacquainted, and I'll be back later with Magnus."  Clary finished quickly pushing little Simon toward Raphael.

" _Excuse me_?  I'm _not_ a babysitter." Raphael spoke forcefully.

"Well, neither am _I_."  She tossed back.  "But if we _were_ , you'd definitely be more qualified, you know, since you're a vampire and all."

"Not really."  Raphael argued.  "Handling fledglings and newbies is one thing, but I've never dealt with children before.  I was turned before I got the chance as a human, and there are no such thing as vampire babies."

"Really?"  Clary asked intrigued.

"We're dead.  Dead people can't exactly reproduce." He explained, giving her a look that said 'duh.'

"Right," Clary said, realizing she never gave the concept much thought, then shook her curiosity away and placed her hands on her hips authoritatively.  "Still, you're better equipped for this job than me."

"So, that's it?  You're just gonna dump him on my doorstep, so you can go off gallivanting with your little shadow hunter friends?" Raphael queried in disbelief.

"It's not like I'm going to the mall."  Clary told him.  "I have to deal with Valentine, and if I bring _him_ along he'd just be in danger." She clarified, gesturing to the boy who was now standing on the couch, messily devouring Raphael's breakfast smoothie.

"Down. _Now_." Raphael commanded, voice deadly serious.

Simon paused his drinking, looked at Raph with a twinkle in his eye and blood around his mouth, and then jumped down to the floor before going back to the rest of the beverage.

Raphael turned his attention back to Clary who was smiling.

"See? You're great with kids, even vampire ones." She said, half-teasing but half-serious too.

"It doesn't matter."  Raph retorted.  "I'm not watching him."

"Raphael, please," Clary began, trying a different tactic.  "I remember how you were with Simon when he was a fledgling in transition and then again as a new member of the clan.  I also remember how you were the one to save him from Camille in the first place.  He _means_ something to _you_.  You _care_ about him.  Maybe as a friend, maybe as something more."  As she spoke the last sentence, Clary gave a surprised Raphael Santiago a very knowing look, and then went on with her speech.  "Or at least you did until he broke your trust, and that's my fault.  He betrayed you for me, and I'm really sorry about that, but if you have any shred of feelings left for Simon, platonic or otherwise, then you'll agree to help me out and help keep him safe.  _Please_." She begged one last time, then waited for Raphael to respond.

Raph stared at her for a long moment collecting his thoughts.  He was shocked that Clary called him out like that on his feelings.  He's usually good at hiding them and keeping his emotions in check, but it had become a bit of a struggle around Simon, enough for Clary to realize the truth.  He did have feelings for him.  A big part of why he had freed Simon from Camille was because he couldn't stand to watch her hurt him any longer because whenever she did, Raph felt the pain too.  It hurt just as much to watch him transition and almost die.  So, when Simon did become part of the clan, Raph promised himself that he would take care of him and lookout for him at all costs.  Remembering that promise, Raphael looked to little Simon, who was licking the glass cup clean but paused briefly to grin back at him, causing a surge of warmth to enter Raph's heart.  With that, he knew he had to honor his promise and agree to help Clary.

Meeting her eyes again, Raphael let out a breath and nodded curtly, "Fine, I'll do it."

Clary beamed, placed a hand on his arm and said simply, "Thank you, Raphael."

He nodded once more, then watched Clary as she showed herself to the door.  Once Clary was gone and the door closed, he heard the sound of glass shattering and turned to face Simon who stood on the couch again, looking guilty.

"Oops." Simon said, then gave him a toothy smile before hopping to the floor.

Raphael stifled a smile of his own as he sighed and shook his head.  This was gonna be a long night.

*******

Thanks to the all the blood Simon drank, he was extra hyperactive and bouncing off the walls.  Raphael did his best to placate him by playing games like tag and hide-and-go-seek, but Simon always managed to find a way to cause trouble by either breaking things, doing something he shouldn't, or both.  Raph wanted to laugh at the irony.  Simon had always seemed so straight-laced.  Who'd a thought that baby Simon would be a holy terror?

All in all, Raphael found four year old Simon to be talkative, annoying as hell, and cute as a button.  In other words, he was basically the same as the original, 18 year old Simon.  However, Raphael expected as much.  What he didn't expect was the pang of sadness he felt as he played with young Simon.  Playing all these children's games made him think of his younger brothers and the good times they shared in his human life.  It had been a while since Raphael had thought about his family and the past, so when he did and tears pooled in the corners of his eyes, he was very surprised.

After a long, exhausting night of chasing little Simon around the hotel, the sun was finally rising and the kid was finally asleep.   Sighing in relief, Raphael sat in the stuffed chair adjacent to the couch that Simon was currently snoozing on in Raph's suite.  As he watched his friend sleep and enjoyed the peaceful moment, he found himself struck with another pang of sadness.  Raphael had never wanted kids before, he never even thought about it really, but after taking care of four year old Simon all night, he was now.  It made him upset to realize that he would never get the chance to be a father and have a child of his own.  However, he did his best to push those feelings aside and tried not dwell on it.  He was never one to make a fuss over the things he couldn't change, and he wasn't about to start now.  Raphael decided to distract his mind by reading the newspaper he left out on the side table, which was soaked in blood no thanks to a mischievous little Simon.  He read about two sentences, then heard a knock at the door.

Setting down the newspaper, he stood and turned to find Thane walking Clary inside the suite.

"You're visitor has returned." Thane said before leaving them alone to settle their business.

"Sorry, I'm so late I--" Clary began but didn't get to finish.

"Shhhhh!" Raphael scolded.  "I just got him to sleep."

"Sorry," Clary apologized.  "But we need to wake him anyway.  Magnus gave me the antidote and in order for it to work he has to drink it." She said, shaking a sippy cup in front of his face to emphasize her point.

"Fine." Raphael agreed reluctantly.

With that, Clary sat down on the sofa beside little Simon and gently stroked his cheek, waking him up soothingly.  Simon was a little groggy at first, but after noticing the cup in her hands, he perked up and took it, eagerly gulping down the blood smoothie and, unknowingly, the antidote.  Clary patted his head affectionately then rose to her feet and looked at Raph as she moved forward a few steps.

"Magnus said it would take a little time, but that he should be back to his regular age within an hour or so."

"Good." Simon said simply.

"Listen, I just wanna say thanks again for watching over Simon tonight.  I really-- OW!" Clary yelped in pain, then glared at Simon who had just thrown his empty cup at the back of her head.  Little Simon just giggled, causing Clary to glare harder as she rubbed the sore spot, which made Raphael smirk.

"Don't mention it."  He said with a small laugh, figuring that made them somewhat even after today's favor.

"All right, Simon.  Time to go."  Clary informed him in a motherly tone.

"NO!" He wailed, speeding over to Raphael and wrapping his limbs around his leg, shocking both him and Clary.  "I wanna stay with Raphy!"

"You played with Raphy all night, Simon.  Now it's time to go." She said sternly, using the nickname he made for Raphael.

"NO! I WANT RAPHY!" He repeated, this time much more loudly.

" _Simon_." She warned.

"It's okay."  Raphael interjected.  "He can stay."

"YAY!" Simon cheered, giving Raph's leg a tight squeeze to show his affection.

"Are you sure?" Clary asked, giving him a quizzical look.

"It's fine.  I need to talk to him anyway... about the clan, I mean."  Raphael clarified.

"Right, the clan." Clary said, humoring him, knowing that he had so much more he wanted to talk to Simon about.

"I realized that terminating his membership here with the clan may have been bit harsh, not to mention hasty.  So I'd like to offer him the chance to return.  Of course the discussion will have to wait until he's back to normal, so like I was saying he might as well stay."  Raphael finished with a shrug, then gave little Simon a smile.

Clary smiled too and replied, "All right then.  I'll be back tomorrow though just to make sure he's really okay."

Raphael nodded in response, then Clary gave a nod back and made her way out of the suite.

Once she was gone, Raph looked back down at Simon who was still clutching his leg and said "All right, little guy.  Time for bed."  He then removed Simon from his leg, picked him up, and held him on his hip.  Taking him back to the couch, he sat Simon on the middle cushion and sat himself on cushion next to him.

"Read me a story?" Simon asked with a yawn.

Raphael thought it over for moment.  He didn't really have any kid appropriate books on hand, so he made a counter offer.  "How about I sing you a song instead?"

Little Simon's eyes lit up and he nodded excitedly.

"But only if you lie down."  Raphael added.

On that note, Simon kicked his legs out toward the empty cushion and burrowed his face into Raphael's side, using him as a pillow.

Raphael was surprised at first, but his look of shock quickly melted into a smile.

Leaning back into the couch, Raphael wrapped his arm around Simon and rubbed his back soothingly.  After a moment, he began to sing.  His voice was quiet, barely above a whisper as he sang, in Spanish, an old lullaby his mother used to sing to him and his brothers. Halfway through the first verse, Raphael moved his hand into Simon's hair and began playing with Simon's curls.  By the beginning of the second verse, little Simon was sound asleep, and by the end of it, so was Raphael.

Hours later, Raphael awoke in the same position, but this time he was being cuddled by an 18 year old Simon Lewis.  After taking it all in, Raphael simply smiled and went back to sleep.

Little did he know, Simon awoke an hour earlier and did the same.

Maybe Raphael wouldn't get the chance to have a kid of his own, but he could still have a family of his own, and maybe, just maybe, Simon would be it.

Only time would tell, and, as a vampire, Raphael had plenty of time, so he was feeling hopeful, very _very_ hopeful.


End file.
